


When I Fall In Love

by Lemmonlyman (lemmonmyman)



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: F/M, just random fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 06:50:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15625089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemmonmyman/pseuds/Lemmonlyman
Summary: “Henry!” Elizabeth said rather loudly catching him off guard.He looks at her surprised. “I enjoyed it, although I have a few words for your sister. However, I know better than to let those words known. This has been the best family gathering I’ve been to since...well lets justs say my brother wasn't there. It felt wonderful to be surrounded by such love.”Henry looks down at her. At his wonderfully hopeful woman who’d seen so much loss and heartache yet loved with all her heart, no matter the consequence.“Come here,” he said pulling her by the hand back to the sitting room.He takes her in his arms and begins to sway back and forth.





	1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth can’t believe it. Time seemed to have flown by. Five years turned to ten turned to twenty turned to...well here they were. Twenty-five years. It still seemed like they were newlyweds with a baby Stevie crammed into that tiny apartment on base. Now, they had an almost lawyer who worked for the second most powerful person in the White House. They had a budding fashion designer and a rebel of a son who was sure to change the world. It seemed like they were still in that Religious Studies class. She can’t quite remember the exact name of it. She’s sure Henry remembers it all. Down to the assignment they’d been working on when they met. All she remembers are his eyes. The eyes that made her heart skip a beat. 

The eyes that looked at her so full of love the first time she went home to meet his family. 

Things had started well but had just as quickly gone sour. His sisters weren’t as inviting as he’d let on. It was late their first night there and the night had ended early and abruptly. Elizabeth had left the house to take a walk. It seemed like the best thing to do after the argument that had started. 

She had quietly left the house without anyone noticing, not even Henry. She’d been gone for well over an hour. She was sure Henry was worried, but she did love when the weather like this. It hadn’t quite gotten too cold to walk, but it also warranted a light coat. She liked to call this “thinking weather.” The kind of weather that allowed for long walks out to think. 

When she makes her way back to the modest house, she notices all but the sitting room lights are on. Expecting it to be Henry’s father she’s surprised to find it’s Henry. 

As she tries to come back inside quietly he’s on his feet and has his arms around her profusely apologizing before she can even get her coat off. 

“I’m so sorry” he repeats over and over. 

“I wanted this to be perfect for you. Your first family dinner since...”

She hugs him back tighter and starts to laugh. He pulls back and looks at her puzzled. 

“I don’t see what’s so funny. My family acted like children. I don’t know why Maureen insisted on knowing where you’d gone to boarding school. As if she even-“ 

“Henry!” Elizabeth said rather loudly catching him off guard. 

He looks at her surprised. “I enjoyed it, although I have a few words for your sister. However, I know better than to let those words known. This has been the best family gathering I’ve been to since...well lets justs say my brother wasn't there. It felt wonderful to be surrounded by such love.” 

Henry looks down at her. At his wonderfully hopeful woman who’d seen so much loss and heartache yet loved with all her heart, no matter the consequence. 

“Come here,” he said pulling her by the hand back to the sitting room. 

He takes her in his arms and begins to sway back and forth. 

“Henry, why are we dancing to no music?” Elizabeth asks lightly. 

“Oh wait!” Henry suddenly let’s go her hand and turns towards the far wall.

Suddenly the crackle of music begins to play. At a volume only they can hear. As he takes her hand once again, she understands the lyrics;

“When I fall in love  
It will be forever  
Or I'll never fall in love  
In a restless world  
Like this is  
Love is ended before it's begun"

As the song hums, Elizabeth begins to hear Henry sing lowly “When I give my heart. It will be completely”. Elizabeth wraps around him even tighter and smiles into his shoulder as they continue to sway. It’s then that she knew. This was her forevermore.


	2. When I Give My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She stopped and looked up at Henry. 
> 
> "Have I ever told you, that time you played this during that horrible first dinner with your family, I knew. I knew that you were the only person I'd ever love." to this Henry placed a hand on her cheek.
> 
> "God, that night could not have gone worse even if we tried." Elizabeth just laughed and began to walk to the kitchen for that long forgotten glass of wine.
> 
> "Did you ever think we'd make it this long?" Elizabeth asked taking a sip.
> 
> "You thinking of getting rid of me?" Henry said taking her glass and sipping it, his glass still sitting on the table.

She missed dinner. She had tried to make it home in time. She thought for sure the country could go one night without some diplomatic emergency. Or rather one that wouldn’t require her but could use Jay or at this point even Blake. 

She just needed to make it to 5 PM then she could run out and turn her cell off. Barring another nuclear attack, they’d find her some way or another. She wasn’t going to be miss this. Here she stood. Fielding phone calls with Ecuador and Bolivia over...she can’t even remember what it was about anymore. 

By the time she makes it home she’s already muttering apologies to herself, and she takes her coat off at the door. She slowly walks to the kitchen hoping to at least enjoy a glass of wine with Henry, even if it was after 2 AM. She’d made sure no one contacted her for at least the next twelve to fourteen hours. That’s when she hears it. Music. 

She walks further into the kitchen and sees the candles. There standing on the counter two glasses of wine in hand stood her husband. Honestly the best man in the world.

Elizabeth finds herself running to him to him repeatedly apologizing and muttering how horrible this is. How this is no way to start this new chapter of their lives. That’s all he manages to understand in her hastily spoken words. 

“Babe, babe, it’s fine. Before you shake your head, trust me. I thought this might happen. Let's just say I had a few contingency plans in case something came up.” this gets her to stop her words. 

She looks at him and sees the small smile on his face.

”Now, I know this isn't exactly what we planned-” he says as he walks her to the dining room ”but I got the kids the pick us up a rather delicious dinner from a rather highly regarded American establishment.” that's when the smell hit Elizabeth's nose. Ruth's hamburgers. 

Their first date had been at Ruth’s burgers. It had been the only thing open. They'd gone for coffee after a class and ended up closing the small shop down. They both realized they'd skipped dinner entirely. So to Ruth's they went. They stayed until well after the sun rose. It was years later, their seventh anniversary when Henry told her that was the moment he knew she was the only person he'd love for the rest of his life. 

As soon as she saw the bags on the table, she had to do everything to keep from crying.

”Oh, Henry. It's perfect.” she turned to him and kissed him.

Realizing she hadn't kissed him since she’d gotten home she sunk into his embrace even further. With a sigh, she turned from her husband even though there was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to drag him upstairs to celebrate the rumbling of her stomach stopped her. 

"Did you remember th-" Elizabeth begins to say before Henry interrupts.

"Extra sauce? Yes, in fact, I had them bring us not one but TWO servings of extra sauce." "You sir, are a magnificent man." 

Several delicious hamburgers later and Elizabeth was sitting quietly on the couch Henry's head on her lap. As she stroked his scalp, thinking he was asleep she thought about that one night at his father's house all those years ago. Without even thinking she began to hum to herself Henry quickly jumped out of her lap, 

"HENRY! What the- where are you going?" Elizabeth said in one breath turning to crane her neck at Henry as he ran back to the kitchen. 

"I didn't think I was singing that loudly," she muttered to herself as she turned back with a harumph.

Before she could even get out her next retort, Henry was back, phone in hand, a smile on his face, and slightly out of breath. While he still looked as young as ever he wasn't the fresh-faced twenty-one year old she met all those years ago.

"I almost forgot!" He said as he pressed something on his phone. 

Reaching his hand out to her and she sat arms crossed on the couch.

"You're not going to run away again, are you?" she asked sarcastically as she got up to take hold of his hand. 

As he walked them round their couch, a familiar sound began to play.

"Did you think I'd get through our anniversary without asking my beautiful wife to dance. What kind of husband would I be?" he said, playfully, as they began to sway.

The first few songs were some of their favorites, but just as she was going to call it a night, she had been awake for nearing twenty hours, and she did plan on getting upstairs with her husband at some point or another, those lyrics began; 

"When I fall in love  
It will be forever  
Or I'll never fall in love  
In a restless world  
Like this is  
Love is ended before it's begun."

She stopped and looked up at Henry. 

"Have I ever told you, that time you played this during that horrible first dinner with your family, I knew. I knew that you were the only person I'd ever love." to this Henry placed a hand on her cheek.

"God, that night could not have gone worse even if we tried." Elizabeth just laughed and began to walk to the kitchen for that long forgotten glass of wine.

"Did you ever think we'd make it this long?" Elizabeth asked taking a sip.

"You thinking of getting rid of me?" Henry said taking her glass and sipping it, his glass still sitting on the table.

"I'd never. Besides, its not like you'd be lonely long. You are the hottest spouse in DC if I recall." Henry squared his eyes at her as he handed her glass back.

"No, I mean more of did you ever imagine we'd be here. In this house, in this town. Twenty-five years later with three amazing children. Speaking of where are the kid-" 

"At a hotel for the evening. Apparently, two-thirds of our children were in desperate need of a break from either school or the White House and well Jason just wanted to stay in a hotel. They said it was their gift to us. They won't be back for at least a day, and will only contact if and only if one of them is and I quote "in desperate need a vital organ". So it looks like its you and me Mrs. McCord." Henry says as he sidles up to Elizabeth's side. 

"So you're saying we have the next twenty-four hours without any distractions?" Elizabeth said looking down at her watch to be sure. 

"Well, I would say its more like eighteen hours because you my dear are in desperate need of a very relaxing bath and then some sleep. Then it's you and me for twelve hours, baby!" 

"Is it bad that the thought of six hours of uninterrupted sleep sounds better than anything else I had planned for us to do upstairs?" Elizabeth said as she yawned.

Henry begins to walk her up the stairs to their bedroom. 

"Well I do have a very luxurious bath planned for the both of us before those glorious six hours, so I'd hope you enjoyed that a bit more."

"Hmmm. Yes, no of course." She says her eyes already half closed as they enter their room.

Before he can even make it to the restroom to get their bath going, she's curled atop the bed fast asleep. 

He walks over to her and helps her stand and she wakes only to get out of her clothes and into her pajamas. He barely has time to pull the duvet back before she is curled once again. He chuckles to himself as he turns to get himself ready for bed. 

As he pulls the duvet back and gets under she instinctively rolls to him and lays herself on his chest. No matter what they had planned, nothing could ever beat this moment. Just the two of them lying in bed in each other's arms. 

As he closes his eyes, he hums the familiar tune once again, a smile on his face. 

When I fall in love  
It will be forever  
Or I'll never fall in love  
Oh I'll never never fall in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope this all actually made sense. I was struck with this little story tonight while I listened to an old record.


End file.
